Another “Green On Blue” Attack Claims Two American Lives In Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — A man in an Afghan police uniform shot and killed two American service members in what appeared to be the latest attack on international forces this year by their Afghan partners.

The so-called insider attacks have stretched to the breaking point a partnership that U.S. and NATO officials consider a key part their exit plan – preparing the Afghans to take over responsibility for their country’s security in just over two years’ time. They have also cast major doubts over the program, where Afghans and international troops are supposed to work “shoulder to shoulder.”

In Thursday’s shooting, authorities had yet to determine if the attacker was an Afghan police officer or an insurgent who had donned a uniform to get close to the Americans, said Maj. Lori Hodge, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The assailant escaped after killing the service members while they were out on a late morning patrol in the southern Uruzgan province, she added.

It was the second suspected insider attack in two days. On Wednesday, two British service members and an Afghan police officer were killed in an “exchange of gunfire” in Helmand province, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement. The Afghan officer was not wearing his uniform and the statement said it was not clear who started shooting first.

Why our Presidential race has been obsessed with Big Bird, binders, and bayonets, and not this failed war I cannot possibly understand.

About Doug MataconisDoug holds a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May, 2010 and also writes at Below The Beltway.
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Comments

If you want Obama to lose, then you don’t mind having the neo-cons running foreign policy again. Say good bye to the people Obama has appointed, like Dempsey as JCOS and Flynn in DIA. They will be replaced by people who know the “real” intelligence is that Iran is this close to having a bomb, and there isn’t a second to waste.

Ron Paul decided some things (like his sons career?) are more important, I guess.